The Levi’s® Music Prize has witnessed a huge 12 months of Australian music, awarding $125,000 to Australian artists since its inception in 2017. The largest music prize in Australian history, is about to step it up a notch, announcing that New Zealand artists will be eligible for a stake in the annual $100K prize pool.

Levi’s® Marketing Manager for Australia & New Zealand Nicky Rowsell is proud to see the continued development of the sought after prize. “It’s been a big year for Australian music. The depth of talent in this country is stronger than ever and we’re proud to be a part of it in some small way by being able to provide funding via the Levi’s® Music Prize to assist emerging artists reach a few of their international career goals.”

“In order to keep the prize evolving and growing; we’d like to extend the opportunity to New Zealand artists that have played BIGSOUND dating back to 2014, “ said Rowsell. “Hopefully this encourages more New Zealand artists to participate in BIGSOUND and I look forward to seeing the healthy competition created from our close neighbours.”

Earlier this year, Levi’s® welcomed the support of BIGSOUND’s official travel partner, Stage & Screen who contribute an additional $5,000 to each winning artist in travel, as of September 2018.

So far, Stella Donnelly, Alex Lahey, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Hatchie & Emerson Snowehave been awarded $25,000 each, to help them achieve their export goals. The prize provides funding towards recording or touring equipment, video production, touring & promotion or a new album or EP, supporting artists that have built significant initial career momentum via their BIGSOUND experience, but who need a financial leg-up to keep moving forward on the international stage.

Administered by QMusic in conjunction with Sounds Australia, the Levi’s® Music Prize provides ongoing career support for BIGSOUND alumni into the future, fulfilling BIGSOUND’s ambition to deliver increasing value to showcasing artists.

"It's impossible to overstate how the generosity of the Levi's® Music Prize has impacted the lives of our winners so far” says BIGSOUND Executive Producer, Joel Edmondson, “Every year we welcome a number of New Zealand acts to BIGSOUND and it's great that they can now also benefit from the possibility of winning this career-changing prize."

Applications are now open for Round 2, 2018/19 and will close December 9, 2018. Australian and New Zealand artists who have performed on the official BIGSOUND line up in the past 5 years - between 2014 – 2018 - are invited to apply via the BIGSOUND website.

The three remaining rounds for 2018/19 are as follows:

2018/19 Round 2 Applications open September 9, 2018 Applications close December 9, 2018 Winner announced January 2019

2018/19 Round 3 Applications open December 10, 2018Applications close March 10, 2019Winner announced April 2019

2018/19 Round 4 Applications open March 11, 2019Applications close June 11, 2019Winner announced July 2019

Showcase applications for BIGSOUND 2019 will open in April 2019 via the BIGSOUND website www.bigsound.org.au